A recent decision by a U.S. judge regarding Google’s dominance in the web search market also highlighted the company’s controversial handling of internal communications and evidence.
At a trade fair in Hanover, Germany, the Google logo stands prominently. On Monday, Alphabet’s Google was criticized by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., for failing to preserve internal chats and potentially misusing legal privileges. Although the judge refrained from imposing sanctions, the ruling serves as a cautionary tale for other companies about the importance of safeguarding data.
The U.S. Justice Department had accused Google of systematically destroying employee messages and misusing attorney-client privilege protections. Judge Mehta, however, chose not to base his antitrust decision on these practices, despite his strong words against Google’s efforts to avoid creating “bad” evidence.
Google has denied any antitrust violations and plans to appeal the ruling. The company has also revised its chat message retention policy to better preserve records.
Mehta criticized Google’s “communicate with care” strategy, which involved labeling communications with lawyers as privileged. This issue has surfaced in other legal battles involving Google, including a case with Epic Games, where a California judge found Google had willfully failed to retain relevant chat evidence.
As Google prepares for more legal scrutiny, including an upcoming trial over its digital advertising practices, Judge Mehta’s ruling underscores the potential consequences for companies that neglect proper evidence preservation.
